But the call was not to be silenced at his will.
He began to wonder about her life during the past half-year.

Why had she written just now, after so long a silence?
Where, and under what circumstances, should he meet her?
Did she think to find him the same as when they last talked together?
Through the night he woke constantly, and always with thoughts busy about Ida.

In the morning his first impulse was to re-read her message; received so carelessly, it had in the meantime become of more account, and Waymark laughed in his wonted way as he saw himself thus swayed between forces he could not control.

The ordinary day's task was neglected, and he impatiently waited for the hour when he could be sure of finding Ida at home.

The address was at Fulham, and, on reaching it, he found a large new block of the kind known as model lodging-houses.
Ida's number was up at the very top.